Marvelous Middle Grade Monday: The Dragon's Tooth by N.D. Wilson

Happy Monday, Blogger Buds!
I'm posting a review today to take part in Shannon Messenger's marvelous meme. If you don't follow her already, get your butt over to her blog. She's hysterical.

This week, I'm reviewing The Dragon's Tooth by N.D. Wilson. I had to write about it for school, so that's doubling as my review. I was gifted a copy by the author, but these thoughts are completely my own.
Also: The entire time, I imagined Wes Bentley/Seneca Crane as Rupert Greeves. (When I looked it over again, I realized that he's black, a detail I missed the first time. It doesn't change the epicosity level, though.)

Blurby: (Goodreads)
For two years, Cyrus and Antigone Smith have run a sagging roadside motel with their older brother, Daniel. Nothing ever seems to happen. Then a strange old man with bone tattoos arrives, demanding a specific room.
Less than 24 hours later, the old man is dead. The motel has burned, and Daniel is missing. And Cyrus and Antigone are kneeling in a crowded hall, swearing an oath to an order of explorers who have long served as caretakers of the world's secrets, keepers of powerful relics from lost civilizations, and jailers to unkillable criminals who have terrorized the world for millennia.
N. D. Wilson, author of Leepike Ridge and 100 Cupboards, returns with an imagination-capturing adventure that inventively combines the contemporary and the legendary.

Review:
I don't read children's books very often, but when I happened to find myself with a copy of The Dragon's Tooth, I decided to give it a try. And I don't regret it. It was filled with a wide array of characters, all completely unique and different. My only complaint, character-wise, is that the main characters, Cyrus and Antigone Smith, seemed older than their respective 11 and 13 years.
My second problem was the perspective changes. Mostly, the book followed "Cy" and "Tigs," but there are the occasional switches; you get glimpses into the minds of minor characters once in a while, and it often slows the pace.
The best idea, though, was probably the man who launched the siblings’ adventure: an old friend of their deceased father, William Skelton, alias Billy Bones. He's intelligent, fearless, and a tragic character. You glean all this from the few pages he remains alive in.
I really loved the plot. It starts out bizarre, but when things settle down, they're mind-blowing. You have lightning bugs, which electrocute the entire area when their glass cases are smashed. There's Patricia the patrik, a snake that disappears whenever she swallows her tail. Most brilliant of all, though, was the antagonist: Dr. Phoenix, also known as Mr. Ashes, depending on his mood and the presence of a dirty and mysterious lab coat.
As a bonus, The Dragon's Tooth employs one of my favorite plot ideas of all time; I love when authors inundate history into their books. There are famous people mentioned in The Dragon's Tooth. Amelia Earhart has "explorer" status in the exclusive club the book centers around. A minor antagonist is an immortal named Maxi--short for Maximilian Robespierre.
Overall, The Dragon's Tooth was brilliant. I enjoyed it a lot and I'm sure that if I had read it five years ago, it would have easily topped my list of favorites.

Rating: 4 stars. Very good


Peace,
Riv

Current Music: Forever on the Dance Floor--covered by Mike Tompkins (originally by Chris Brown)

Hiatus

Hey Blogger Buds,
Taking a few days off to focus on some other things. I'm going to be back next Monday with a review (yup, a day early, I know).
Thanks for putting up with me.

By the way, the blogoversary is coming up. Trying to put something special together for the (hopefully not so) Terrible Twos.

Peace,
Riv

Current Music: Glad You Came by the Warblers (Originally by The Wanted)

Character Dolls: Elijah

Hey Blogger Buds,
I've got another of my own creations this week, in part because I'm not in middle of any books (suggestions?) and in part because...well, you'll find out soon enough. ;)
It's a short Character Doll this week, with only a few little lines of description.

"Character Dolls" is a weekly meme here at Riv Reads every Thursday. Doll-making websites, like elouai, are my guilty pleasure, and I figured that while I'm on them, I might as well fan-girl a bit! And while I'm doing that, why not share some of my creations on the blog?
Please don't use this meme without express permission from myself first.
Unless otherwise stated, all dolls are made with elouai.
And, of course, I ask that you don't alter my dolls, or claim them as your own. If you like one of the dolls, and want to spread the love, please don't post the picture on your own blog, but instead link back here! And you're welcome to give it a go, of course, and create your own dolls. If you do, let me know so I can check it out!

Today, I've got Elijah Son-of-None from my book, Eberheardt. Elijah is one of the antagonists, and he's really...antagonizing (says the girl trying to write a book). He's young, with prematurely white hair and eyes as green as emeralds. And as cold.

He's rich.

He's handsome.

He's powerful.

And despite the evil, sadistic bit, the girls continue to line up.

(Drumroll, please.)

*drumroll*

The doll can't come close to matching the malice, the freakishly frustrating flippancy (and fun alliteration!)

He was pretty basic to make. White hair. Nice clothes. A small nose. An eye that glows. An angry pose. And a rose.

I think the frown is the most distinctive part of him.

Well, that's all for now, folks. Let me know what you think of Elijah!

Peace and sadists,

Riv

A Flyaway Mini-Review; Oh, and POTTER FREAKIN' MORE

(Brownies if you get the "freakin'" reference)
*waves dorkily*

#1:

Flyaway by Helen Landalf

Blurby at Goodreads
Characters: I liked Stevie at first. She has spirit, a personality. But when she refuses to wear clothes that her mom wouldn't like, all I can think is "Ugh! She's such a poseur!"
I hated Stevie's Mom from the get-go. She's self-absorbed, and cares about her "cigs" much more than about her daughter.
The Professor (real name is Van) is sweet...until he falls victim to the "let's turn Boyfriend #1 from a sweetheart into a jerk so our main character will dump him!" trope. (À la Lola)
Alan. Oh, Alan. Let's weigh your actions and excuses. Action: You're rude. Excuse: It's okay, because you're gentle with the injured birds. Action: You're a bully. Excuse: You've had it rough. Action: You publicly outed a Christian. Excuse: (Spoiler. Valid reason, though.) Action: You tripped and bullied a special ed kid until she had to switch schools. Excuse: ... What was that, Alan? Can't hear you over your conscience's cries of pain. It's like killing puppies, Alan. The eighth deadly sin.
Everything Else: The plot is pretty much the only redeeming quality. It kept me up, gripped by Stevie's story. Why? I don't know. There was zero emotion; there was just Stevie telling us what's happening. ("I woke up. I saw Aunt Mindy. She gave me news. I screamed in anger. I slammed the door in her face and went back to sleep.")
What I didn't like about the plot? No grit. A freaking love triangle that served very little purpose besides being a love triangle.
The ending was the best part. It was very fitting.
[/End rant]
Rating: 3* Okay

#2:
You might have heard of this thing. It's called Pottermore.
Yeah. Pottermore.
As in, ya know...

That Pottermore. And they're open.

The Philosopher's Stone part is out already.

I'm in Slytherin which is, apparently, Merlin's house. (And you know about me and Merlin.)

My wand is acacia wood with a dragon heartstring core, 13 inches, brittle.

This one's a bit longer than mine. Source.

So what are you waiting for? Hop on the Express and head over!

Peace and dragons,

Riv

My Life in Youtube Searches

Hey Blogger Buds,
I've seen a couple of those "My Life in Google searches" blog posts, and I decided to do my own. But, being strange, I had to go the hipster way and stand out.

You heard me. Hipster.

Hipster Flynn is hipster.

ANYWAY, these are some of my Youtube searches from the past week. There are plenty more, as I spend an obscene amount of time on Youtube, in part because I have better things to do.

• Viva la Vida lyrics Coldplay (part of a tragedy-themed playlist that also involves way too much Avril Lavigne)
• Your Guardian Angel (Love. This. Song. So hard.)
• Unsheathing a Longsword (the second search after "drawing" told me how to doodle one)
• Flynn Rider Smolder (I can't resist)
• Cato Hunger Games (multiple times)
• Sesame Street Letter G (I was looking for this)
• Singing Tree Frogs (it's Lauren Oliver's fault)
• Looking for Alaska Songs (I was hunting for Hank Green's)
• One Direction (I've finally given in to the hype. What Makes You Beautiful is...surprisingly good.)

Then it gets interesting, and a little strange:

• Hanging Scene
• V for Vendetta Hangard
• Legend of the Seeker Hanging Scene (I couldn't find the one I was looking for, though :( )
• Celtic Metal (Best. Niche Genre. EVER.)
• Cato Death Scene
• Throw a Pitchfork (Research! Research, I tell you!)

And then, of course, the inevitable happens after a few days:

• Mysterious Ticking Noise
• Potter Puppet Pals angst

There's also a lot of P!atD searches, Brendon Urie (cuz he's awesomesauce), some Taylor Swift, and more than enough Hunger Games.

Hope that was entertaining. :)

Vs and Smolders,

Riv

Lucky 7 Tag! Also: Rock the Drop!!

Hey Blogger Buds,
This original plan was just to post about Teen Lit Day, and Rock the Drop, but then something more exciting popped up!

Before I get to that:

Rock the Drop! is hosted by Figment and readergirlz. The idea is that you leave a random YA book in a public place for someone to find. If you want, you can tweet it with the #rockthedrop hashtag.
I really wanted to drop some old ARCs, but I didn't have time today. :( But let me know what you guys have done! I'd love to hear!



In other news, the fabulous Cambria Dillon tagged me with the Lucky Seven Tag! I've seen this around a lot, and I'm always SO JEALOUS of everyone who gets tagged, and I guess Cambria heard my plea. You should all TOTALLY check out her seven lines, because they're super intriguing, and I love the last line!

Here are the rules:

• Go to page 7 or 77 in your current manuscript
• Go to line 7
• Copy down the next 7 lines/sentences AS THEY ARE. No cheating!
• Tag 7 other authors (make sure to let them know they've been tagged!)

So, I would have done page 77 (or 777?) if I still worked on Microsoft Word, but alas, we parted ways when my computer imploded multiple times and I was set permanently in Google Docs, less a hundred thousand(ish) words. (They're somewhere out there, with the aliens.)

So, here are my seven sentences. (Lines were too complicated.) (I was so nervous about what page 7 would end up being! But I'm pretty happy with it.) (I should really stop babbling.) (So excited!) (I'll shut up now.)

Sentences 7-13:

The figure scrambled away, jumping up, and the moonlight fell on Art’s features, a bruise already forming on his cheek.
Furiously wiping at her soaking wet cheeks, Becca rolled onto her side, pulling her legs up close to her chest, hugging her knees.
Art cautiously knelt beside her, leaving space between them. “Becca?” he said again, softer. “What happened?”
She shook her head, trying to furtively dry her face again. “Nothing,” she said, after a minute.

I hope you like it! Let me know what you think! realize that my lines are kind of short, because there are some speaking bits that don't have dialogue tags to make them longer.

But speaking of tags, here are the seven authors whose lines I want to see as well:

1) Laura of Pens and a Camera Lens

2) Cristin Terrill of, um, Cristin Terrill

3) Lindsey Sablowski of Fictional Writer

4) Laura of A Work of Fiction

5) Lissa of The Real Book Critique

6) Kristia S. of KristTeeAuh

7) YOU! Yes, I want YOU for Dumbledore's Army!

(Yes, I cheated on the last one)

Sorry, got to run now.

Happy 7s,

Riv